While many state legislatures are in recess, the federal fiscal year draws to a close (resulting in few new R&D funding opportunities to report), and SSTI staff focus more activities on our 4th Annual conference -- Beyond the Hype: Tools for Building Tech-based Economies, the SSTI Weekly Digest will go to a biweekly schedule during the month of August. As a result, the next two issues will be released on August 11 and August 25.

Wednesday evening, the bill to reauthorize the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program until the end of FY 2008 passed the full Senate by unanimous consent. The Senate version of H.R.

A series of legislative recommendations to expand the "winners' circle" of the New Economy has been released by the Progressive Policy Institute’s (PPI) New Economy Task Force. 

Concerned that it currently lacks the “critical mass” required to be a leader in biotechnology, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) has prepared the Michigan Life Sciences Strategy, which outlines a plan to develop its universities, industries, and infrastructure to nurture biotechnology entrepreneurship over the next decade. 

With the goal of assembling “a consistent set of state-level data that approximates the ‘technology infrastructure’ of the states,” the Office of Technology Policy (OTP) has released on the web, The Dynamics of Technology-based Economic Development: State Science and Technology Indicators. OTP, part of the Technology Administration of the U.S.

The latest issue of the National Commission on Entrepreneurship's E-News brought our attention to survey results revealing that, despite the media and Wall Street attention given to dot-coms, only 13.1 percent of recent college graduates would like to work for the start-up, Internet-based businesses given a choice. Fortune 500 companies were the preferred choice for 42.2 percent of the survey respondents, while 24.7 percent opted for small businesses (specifically not dot-coms).

The Technology Administration of the Department of Commerce has prepared a web-based database of public, private, and educational programs and activities dedicated to developing the information technology workforce. The site is searchable geographically, by program type, by sponsor, or by keyword. Entities are invited to add information for additional programs and initiatives to the site as well. More information is available at: http://www.go4it.gov 

The National Governors’ Association (NGA) Center for Best Practices, with support from the Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership (KCEL), will convene an 18-month policy academy this fall to help officials from ten states to develop strategies governors can use to support entrepreneurship. Idaho, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, Utah, Washington and Wyoming were selected to participate in the policy academy project.

DoD 2000 SBIR Phase I Awards Announced

The Department of Defense has posted the Phase I selections for the 00.1 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program solicitation. Out of the 4,829 proposals received, DoD awarded 856 SBIR Phase I grants, which equates to a 

17.73 percent success rate.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, as big defense contractors closed their doors and unemployment climbed, San Diego looked as if it might not recover. Between 1990-1993 alone, nearly 60,000 high-paying jobs were lost to defense and aerospace cutbacks. Although the region had some of the ingredients to be successful (defense technologies, a strong university, medical and bioscience institutes, and a desirable climate), the players did not come together to face their economic woes.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) requests cooperative agreement proposals to support an intervention epidemiologic research study of HIV/AIDS. The purpose of the program is to evaluate how different levels of antiretroviral therapy affect HIV-1 infection. Eligible applicants include public and private nonprofit organizations, governments, universities, research institutions, hospitals, and Indian tribal organizations. A total of $400,000 is anticipated to fund two awards.

The July-August issue of Technology Review, MIT's Magazine of Innovation, includes a special report on university research. The TR University Research Scorecard, written by TR associate editor Rebecca Zacks, ranks the top U.S. universities for their performance in patent quality (called "technological strength") and licensing revenues.

According to a study by Scarborough Research, a market research firm, Salt Lake City leads the country with 73 percent of households owning a PC. San Francisco and Washington DC follow closely behind with 72 and 71 percent respectively. The average home PC penetration across the 64 metropolitan markets measured is 59 percent.

Last week, Governor Gray Davis signed into law California’s $99.4 billion budget which provides nearly $305 million for science and technology related programs plus an additional $20 million in research and development tax credits. Specific 

initiatives include:

The 21st Century Workforce Commission has released its final report, A Nation of Opportunity, and recommendations for developing the nation's new high tech workforce. The report provides an analysis of how leadership in regional partnerships of education, business and government can effectively address critical shortages of skilled workers in information technology jobs.

In an effort to provide quality, high-speed telecommunications services throughout the state, North Dakota has committed $3 million for the first phase of a broadband telecommunications network that is expected to cost the state $20 million when completed. When the first phase is finished later this year, 218 locations in 64 communities will be connected.

Public and private sources in the United States invest approximately $45 billion each year into medical research, but attempts to measure the return on that investment have been few. Exceptional Returns: The Economic Value of America’s Investment in Medical Research presents a preview of the findings of nine economists from the University of Chicago, Harvard University, Yale University, Stanford University and Columbia University.

The Federal Railroad Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation is soliciting proposal concept papers for research projects, technology advancements and/or demonstrations directed at enhancing the deployment of high-speed rail service.

Our Digest archives are back on-line! The Calendar of Events and S&T Resources have also been updated. We apologize for the problems many of you encountered trying to use the site during the past two weeks.

Increasing globalization of research and development (R&D) and the prolific growth of information technology (IT) are major elements in a "science and engineering enterprise that is in transition," the National Science Board (NSB) reports in Science and Engineering Indicators 2000.

A call for action for states from the Northwest region was the result of Linking Regional Resources, a conference of approximately 150 business, government, national laboratory, and university representatives held in Seattle.

How does E-commerce and the Internet affect copyrights for businesses, universities, organizations, and individuals in your state? The United States Copyright Office and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration invite public comments on the issue before August 4, 2000.

The most comprehensive accounting of federal R&D investment in each state was released by the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy last Friday. Discovery and Innovation: Federal Research and Development Activities in the Fifty States, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico offers a wealth of information on federal research activity and investment in each state. 

Oklahomans need “to make fundamental changes in the way we see ourselves and the way we do things...to prevent us from slipping farther and farther behind, languishing on the sidelines of the New Economy,” according to a 14-member committee of public and private sector leaders. 

As Wall Street waited for the Dow to top 10,000, venture capital investments were also reaching a new high, according to the latest PricewaterhouseCoopers Money Tree Survey. Venture-backed investments rose to a record $4.286 billion during the first quarter of 1999, a 41 percent increase over the first quarter of 1998. The survey's previous record of $3.77 billion was set during the third quarter of last year.